Desperation Wins Over Fear

Today I am sharing my story from way back when one of my three awful paid jobs involved selling vacuum cleaners. First off all those years ago I had never tried to sell anything in my life. After leaving school I worked as a Secretary at an Insurance Brokers, and after being married a couple of years, I became a stay at home mom.

One of my challenges is directions, I get lost quickly, and when I realized I had to travel a lot all over Waterloo Region and beyond to sell to customers I was very nervous and just wanted to give up on the job from day one.

I was desperate for money after divorce, having a mortgage to pay for, food and clothes to buy for myself and my four children meant I had no choice, but fear reared it’s ugly head. I had no choice but to get into my then very large and very high AeroStar Van, which I could hardly see over the steering wheel when driving, and muddle my way around in the dark, wet evenings when people booked appointments with me.

My Children Became My GPS

I resorted to asking one or a couple of my children to drive to appointments with me in the evenings, because they were at least spending time with their Mom ( lame excuse I know) but also because they knew their way around better than me. All of my children are very good at directions and reading maps, unlike me. My two younger children were excited to help me out and come along for the ride, and they got to see me in action shampooing carpets when trying to sell the carpet cleaner to a customer. All good experience for when they were older and had to deal with clients or workplace colleagues.

We have laughed and joked about this time many years ago and my children have assured me they had fun and were happy to help me.

The Police Woman With Flashing Lights

I knew the time had come to consider health & safety when I ran a read light one dark stormy night on my way to a customers home in the country. All I could see were fields, not many lights and I was not concentrating, I was stressed and luckily no other cars were around for me to cause an accident.

In my rear view mirror I saw flashing lights, heard a siren and pulled over to let the police car drive around me,  but to my surprise the car stopped behind my van. The woman police officer was very nice, asked me the question about whether I knew I had ran a red light and that’s when I knew that I would tell the company the very next day I could not work for them any more.

I thought quickly about her question and realised if I admitted knowing I ran a read light I was in the wrong and if I admitted not knowing that was equally wrong. I admitted I knew I had ran a red light, burst into tears and shared all my challenges. I got off with a warning and probably that police woman saved my life.

I Never Gave Up

I carried on working at the shoe store and cleaning in a hotel until the time came when I could walk away and start afresh.

You all know the rest of my story by now.

Asking for help does not mean we are weak, it means we need help, pure and simple.